Daughter of the Sun
by Puppy Dog Love
Summary: When the pregnant queen of the Kingdom of the Sun falls sick, she drinks the cure from the Flower of the Sun. But when her child is born, the baby is much different than they could ever have imagined.
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell to the earth. Where it fell grew a flower. And after many years, an old woman found the flower. Her name was Gothel, and she had the key to unlock the full power of the flower of the Sun.

When she was a young child, before magic had been locked away, her mother had sung a lullaby to her every night. Her mother had said that the song was magical, and Gothel had believed her.

When Gothel saw the flower, she knew it was magic. She began to sing the lullaby.

" _Flower gleam and glow,_

 _Let your power shine,_

 _Make the clock reverse,_

 _Bring back what once was mine,"_

Gothel smiled as the flower began glowing. She continued singing her mother's lullaby.

 _"Heal what has been hurt,_

 _Change the fates design,_

 _Save what has been lost,_

 _Bring back what once was mine,_

 _What once was mine..."_

Gothel trailed off. The flower stopped glowing. She began to sing again, the second verse of the song.

 _"Flower of the Sun,_

 _Take away the hurt,_

 _Undo what has been done,_

 _Restore what once was,_

 _Change what time has told,_

 _Reverse the harm done,_

 _Renew what used to be,_

 _Bring back what once was mine,_

 _What once was mine..."_

Gothel had finished the song. She looked into the ocean and saw her reflection. She was not the frail old woman she had been. Now she was years younger, with the ebony black hair she'd had in her youth. She smiled.

Then, Gothel remembered something. When she was only a child, the island she lived on was peaceful, and everyone welcomed and accepted magic. But by the time she was thirty, the first king had risen to power. New laws had been passed, ones that were not accepting of magic. Gradually, people began fearing magic. Anyone who had anything to do with magic would be locked up. And soon, the island had changed completely.

Gothel shook her head. The kingdom, if they found it, would get rid of the flower. They would never accept it. She had to hide it. She took a basket she had woven from prickly thorns and covered the flower. From then on, no one would know about the flower.


	2. Chapter 2

Centuries passed. The kingdom grew, and was called the Kingdom of the Sun. Gothel was able to keep herself alive much longer than she should have lived with the flower. She was still alive hundreds of years later.

One fateful day, the queen Anise, who was one month pregnant with her first child, fell ill. The king George tried everything to cure his wife, but nothing was working.

Queen Anise, who had married into the throne, told her husband, "Look for the magic flower." But King George was very against magic. He would not look for the flower.

The queen got worse each day. A month passed, and she was on the verge of death. The king finally was forced to search for the flower.

Guards were sent out to find the Flower of the Sun. No one even came close to finding it until the evening. Gothel, who was healing herself, heard voices. She stopped singing at the end of the first verse and hid the flower under the basket. But as she ran away, she kicked the basket accidentally, and a guard saw the flower. He called to his men, and they dug up the flower while Gothel watched helplessly, hidden in the bushes.

The guards carried the flower to the castle and boiled it in water. The queen was given the water to drink. It did its magic, and the queen was healed.

Everyone in the kingdom was happy - except for one person. Gothel was angry. They had stolen her flower and had ruined it so no one could ever use it again. She told herself that she was right, that magic would always be destroyed. She resigned herself to her fate that she was unable to change now.


	3. Chapter 3

Seven months passed, and it was finally time for the queen to give birth. The baby was born in the night, and the exhausted queen named her Rapunzel.

But Rapunzel was not an ordinary baby. She had wisps of short blonde hair on her head, and her skin faintly glowed yellow. Her eyes were bright yellow and had no pupils. They glowed as bright as the sun. She had an extraordinarily hot touch, and her lips were a faint rose gold color.

Anise thought that Rapunzel was beautiful. But everyone else was horrified. Even Rapunzel's own father, the king, could not bring himself to look at his daughter. Rapunzel, they said, had been ruined by the Sun's magic.

After the birth of the child, the king tried even more to destroy all magic. But Anise would not let him lay a hand on her daughter. "Do what you want with our kingdom," she said, "but do not do anything to Rapunzel."

There was someone else watching the child closely. Gothel would watch just outside the castle for a glimpse of the child. The first time she saw Rapunzel, she had no doubt that the Flower of the Sun's magic was in her. She stayed around the castle, just waiting for the chance to find the child outside of the castle.

The baby grew as normal children do, and spoke her first words a few days after her first birthday. Her parents hadn't known if the child could see or not, but it became apparent when Rapunzel took her first steps. She was soon running about the castle with no trouble, and she spoke about all the pretty animals she saw outside.

After a year, the king and queen hired nursemaids to take care of Rapunzel. The entire kingdom was afraid of the child, and the nursemaids were no exception. They frequently allowed Rapunzel to wander out of their sight without doing anything about it.

When Rapunzel was three years old, she got what was supposed to be her first haircut. The barbers were terrified of the strange young princess, and neither wanted to be the one to cut her hair. Finally, one took the first snip, and a piece of hair fell to the ground. Immediately, the strands of hair that had been cut turned brown. The barbers were even more terrified, and there was no talk of cutting the princess's hair ever again.

When she was six years old, Rapunzel ventured outside of the castle on her own for the first time. Her nursemaids had not been watching her again, and the golden-eyed girl was walking around and humming to herself. When she reached the castle gate, she stopped for a moment, then continued walking. She began singing loudly.

"My sunshine doll went over the sea, and with her went the heart of me..."

It was the loud singing that told Gothel that the child was outside. She silently snuck up behind the girl and put a hand on her shoulder.

Rapunzel screamed and turned around.

"It's alright," said the old woman. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to teach you something."

"You're the first person besides my mother that is not scared of me," Rapunzel said. "Why aren't you afraid?"

"I know about magic," replied Gothel. "Come to my house. I must teach you something."


End file.
